In a shocking development, a 52-year-old NRI, suspected to have contracted swine flu, died at a private hospital in the Kollam district of Kerala on July 1, 2009.

Confirming the report, Kerala’s director of health services K Shylaja said: “The man, identified as Stanely Pelis, had returned from the UK in early June. The end came around 9pm, just a couple of hours after he was admitted to the Holy Cross hospital.”

Shylaja said that the throat swabs of Stanley Pelis, who arrived in Kerala two weeks ago from UK, have been sent to the National Institute of Communicable diseases, New Delhi on Thursday morning.

If confirmed, he would be the first victim of the flu in the country.

The official further informed the media persons that Pelis was admitted to Holy Cross Hospital at Kottiyam in the district with high fever and breathlessness at around 7 p.m. on Wednesday night and passed away at 9 p.m..

Apart from this, two passengers who arrived at the Kochi airport from US and Ireland on Thursday morning have been quarantined with suspected swine flu.

Meanwhile, four new cases are reported from Gurgaon, Bangalore, Pune and Cochin.

With this, the total number of swine flu cases across India reached to 120 on Thursday.